How I learned to ski without ever setting foot on a mountain

Never skied? Wanna try? No problem.

Tamarack Resort ski instructors teamed up with Gateway Parks in Eagle to offer a ski lessons to adults who want to learn to ski.

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Tamarack Resort ski instructors teamed up with Gateway Parks in Eagle to offer a ski lessons to adults who want to learn to ski.

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For most of my life, the closest my family came to skiing or snowboarding was sledding down a steep hill at a local park. There were no weekend trips to Bogus Basin, and most of our family friends — military transplants from warmer climates — avoided the mountains, too.

A disastrous snowboarding attempt in the eighth grade seemed to solidify it: Winter sports were not for me.

So when I started as the Statesman’s outdoors reporter last month, I suspected that I might need to become a skier or snowboarder. Things hadn’t gone well 15 years ago when I was significantly more adventurous and spry. How would I make it down a mountain intact?

As it turns out, the solution was to avoid the mountain altogether.

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There are plenty of ski school opportunities in Idaho, but I opted for the one closest to home: Gateway to Tamarack at Eagle Island State Park, a two-hour introduction to snowboarding and skiing for people ages 13 and older. I figured the flat ground would be my best shot at avoiding great bodily injury.

The baby-steps approach

According to Tamarack’s ski school director Wolfe Ashcraft, the program was designed to eliminate many of the barriers that keep adults from picking up skiing. Not only was it less intimidating to tackle Gateway Park’s small mounds of machine-made snow, but the class itself was free — and so were equipment rentals through Play It Again Sports in Boise. Plus, nothing beats a 20-minute drive on well-maintained roads.

Ashcraft and his fellow instructors assumed (correctly) that my 15 fellow classmates and I had zero experience, so they started with the most basic of basics: putting boots on the correct feet. We learned to snap our skis on and off. After two lessons, I still haven’t even touched the poles.

But the baby-steps approach worked. Ashcraft had us start by sliding on a single ski, propelling ourselves with one foot like wobbly skateboarders. Then we paired both skis, crisscrossing flat land in shuffling steps and practicing the motions of turning.

It was — mercifully — nothing like the experiences I’d heard from others, who leapt out of the frying pan and into the fire of downhill routes.

I signed up for two lessons, at Tamarack’s initial recommendation. But the resort later assured us its instructors would have us up to speed in a single class. When I returned for the second lesson, it was to all new faces.

That second week, my classmates graduated from single-ski shuffling to sliding down mounds of snow in just under two hours. We took turns working on our wedge stops while Ashcraft looked on, quick with a helpful pointer or word of encouragement.

By the end, Ashcraft told us we’d outgrown the flat terrain of Gateway Park. (The park also has a tubing hill that can be used for skiing or snowboarding, but it’s narrow and slick with steep sides — not ideal for beginners.)

It’s a great segue to Tamarack’s accompanying offer: Complete one of the Gateway lessons and you can get an hourlong private lesson, lift ticket and rental for $49 at the resort.

When the lesson was over, I took a few more runs down the hill, gleeful at my ability to whoosh down and snake to a stop unscathed.

Ski lessons for adults

▪ Tamarack is offering two more Gateway to Tamarack programs at Eagle Island on Jan. 10 and Jan. 17, but spots are filling up quickly. Register online for free, and find details for other Tamarack programs here.

▪ Bogus Basin offers a Passport Program for beginners ages 12 and up. You’ll get four lessons, unlimited equipment rentals, a season pass and more for $299.

Nicole Blanchard is the Idaho Statesman’s outdoors and insight reporter. She grew up in Idaho, graduated from Idaho State University and Northwestern University and frequents the trails around Boise as much as she can.